Bill Text: NJ SCR158 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced

Bill Title: Proposes amendment to Constitution to provide civil service hiring preference and property tax deduction to veteran who received badge, medal, or ribbon for serving in support of federal military combat operation.

Proposes amendment to Constitution to provide civil
service hiring preference and property tax deduction to veteran who received
badge, medal, or ribbon for serving in support of federal military combat
operation.

Be It
Resolved by the Senate of the State of New
Jersey (the General Assembly concurring):

1. The following proposed
amendment to the Constitution of the State of New Jersey is agree to:

PROPOSED
AMENDMENT

a. Amend Article VII,
Section I, paragraph 2 to read as follows:

2. Appointments and
promotions in the civil service of the State, and of such political
subdivisions as may be provided by law, shall be made according to merit and
fitness to be ascertained, as far as practicable, by examination, which, as far
as practicable, shall be competitive; except that preference in appointments by
reason of active service in any branch of the military or naval forces of the
United States in time of war, or in support of combat operations for which a
badge, medal, or ribbon was awarded to the service member, may be provided
by law.

(cf: Art. VII, Sec. I, par. 2)

b. Amend Article VIII,
Section 1, paragraph 3 to read as follows:

3. Any citizen and resident
of this State now or hereafter honorably discharged or released under honorable
circumstances from active service, in time of war or other emergency as, from
time to time, defined by the Legislature, or in support of combat operations
for which a badge, medal, or ribbon was awarded to the service member, in
any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States shall be entitled, annually
to a deduction from the amount of any tax bill for taxes on real and personal
property, or both, including taxes attributable to a residential unit held by a
stockholder in a cooperative or mutual housing corporation, in the sum of $50
or if the amount of any such tax bill shall be less than $50, to a cancellation
thereof, except that the deduction or cancellation shall be $100 in tax year
2000, $150 in tax year 2001, $200 in tax year 2002 and $250 in each tax year
thereafter. The deduction or cancellation shall not be altered or repealed.
Any person hereinabove described who has been or shall be declared by the
United States Veterans Administration, or its successor, to have a
service-connected disability, shall be entitled to such further deduction from
taxation as from time to time may be provided by law. The surviving spouse of
any citizen and resident of this State who has met or shall meet his or her
death on active duty in time of war or of other emergency as so defined, or
in support of combat operations for which a badge, medal, or ribbon was awarded
to the service member, in any such service shall be entitled, during her
widowhood or his widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a resident of this
State, to the deduction or cancellation in this paragraph provided for
honorably discharged veterans and to such further deduction as from time to
time may be provided by law. The surviving spouse of any citizen and resident
of this State who has had or shall hereafter have active service in time of war
or of other emergency as so defined, or in support of combat operations for
which a badge, medal, or ribbon was awarded to the service member, in any
branch of the Armed Forces of the United States and who died or shall die while
on active duty in any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States, or who
has been or may hereafter be honorably discharged or released under honorable
circumstances from active service in time of war or of other emergency as so
defined, or in support of combat operations for which a badge, medal, or
ribbon was awarded to the service member, in any branch of the Armed Forces
of the United States shall be entitled, during her widowhood or his
widowerhood, as the case may be, and while a resident of this State, to the
deduction or cancellation in this paragraph provided for honorably discharged
veterans and to such further deductions as from time to time may be provided by
law.

(cf: Art. VIII, Sec. I, par. 3,
amended effective December 2, 1999)

2. When this proposed
amendment to the Constitution is finally agreed to pursuant to Article IX,
paragraph 1 of the Constitution, it shall be submitted to the people at the
next general election occurring more than three months after the final
agreement and shall be published at least once in at least one newspaper of
each county designated by the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the
General Assembly and the Secretary of State, not less than three months prior
to the general election.

3. This proposed amendment
to the Constitution shall be submitted to the people at that election in the
following manner and form:

There shall be printed on each
official ballot to be used at the general election, the following:

a. In every municipality
in which voting machines are not used, a legend which shall immediately precede
the question as follows:

If you favor the proposition
printed below make a cross (X), plus (+), or check (a) in the square opposite the word "Yes." If you are
opposed thereto make a cross (X), plus (+) or check (a) in the square opposite the
word "No."

b. In
every municipality the following question:

CONSTITUTIONAL
AMENDMENT TO ALLOW VETERANS WITH SERVICE BADGE, MEDAL, OR RIBBON TO RECEIVE
CIVIL SERVICE HIRING PREFERENCE AND PROPERTY TAX DEDUCTION

YES

Do you approve amending the
Constitution to give a civil service hiring preference to a veteran who has a
badge, medal, or ribbon for serving in support of military combat operations?

The amendment also gives
those same veterans a property tax deduction.

INTERPRETIVE
STATEMENT

NO

This change to the
Constitution would expand the number of veterans eligible for a civil service
hiring preference. The amendment would also expand the number of veterans
eligible for a property tax deduction. These benefits would be given to a
veteran who was awarded a badge, medal, or ribbon for serving in support of military
combat operations. At present, only veterans who served in time of war or
other emergency are eligible for these benefits.

STATEMENT

At present, the State
Constitution allows a veteran who served in time of war to receive a civil
service hiring preference for public employment, and allows a veteran who
served in time of war or during other emergency to receive a property tax
deduction.

This proposed amendment would
make a veteran eligible for these benefits if the veteran served in support of
a federal military combat operation and received a badge, medal, or ribbon.

The criteria for a badge, medal,
or ribbon is determined by the federal government and generally include, but
are not limited to, military operations with active or potentially active
opposing hostile forces and performance under enemy fire with a risk of grave
danger.